Who cares

December 18, 2012

A friend told me once she cared too much about what others thought about
her. The easy thing to say there is, who cares what others think? It's
a good mindset. But there is one person you have to keep in mind. You
can be yourself, but you also have the option to be the best version
of yourself. Imagine seeing yourself from the outside. You know and
you've met plenty of awesome people. What about them was awesome? Now be
awesome. Be someone you'd want to be with.

You know you have a judgemental eye, even if you try not to. Think
about turning that eye on yourself. Suddenly it becomes a lot more
useful. Take it off your friends. Your teachers, your co-workers, and
especially off strangers on the street. Just save a little bit of it
for yourself.

It feels weird. To look at yourself like that. To look at yourself from
outside your body. It takes a bit of imagination. And a lot of practice.
But try it. You might learn something new. People don't say a lot of
things. Just like you don't either (which is mostly a good thing). And
if you're feeling gutsy, it might even be a good idea to ask. You might
be in for an unexpected surprise (pleasant or not).

Whatever you see, there's always room to grow. To improve. Otherwise,
what's the fun in it all? And don't get discouraged if you have a lot
of room. It sounds cheesy because you hear it all the time, but we
really do learn the most from our failures and mistakes, not from what
we're already good at. If we suck it up, we get better. It takes time,
and you might not be able to spot progress each day, but it's there. The
good stuff doesn't come easy anyway.